Hungary can hold the Swimming World Cup this year with significant financial discounts.
Sándor Wladár, president of the Hungarian Swimming Association and head of the organizing committee, spoke about this at a press conference on Monday morning, after the FINA announced that Hungary will host the World Cup after this year’s Fukuoka World Cup was postponed to next year.
“After a week of deciding that Fukuoka won’t be able to host the World Cup this year either, athletes in the wet world were in despair as they might have thought that a lot of the work they did was wasted. The swimming and water polo association felt the pressure, and we thought Hungary was a brilliant venue, and the Hungarians had proven many times that they were excellent hosts, great organizers. ”
– said Sándor Wladár, adding that during the negotiations with FINA they were able to fight for significant financial beneficiaries, as common interests met. He added that this arrangement does not affect the 2027 Olympic Qualifying World Championships, which will also be hosted by Hungary.
Sándor Wladár stated that they did not want to compete with the 2017 World Championships in Budapest – where synchronized swimming took place in a beautiful environment, in the City Park, for example – as the most important thing now is to provide athletes with the opportunity to compete.
Regarding the organization, it was said that, unlike usual, this time the matches of the pool swimmers will be held in the first week of the World Championships, as the European Championships will take place in Rome in August.
As stated, the World Championships will be held only in the existing facilities: swimming and diving in the Danube Arena, synchronized swimming in the Széchy swimming pool on Margaret Island, water polo in Debrecen in addition to Hajós, and in the framework of the Modern Cities Program. complex and the open-water swimmers are scheduled to fight at the Lupa Lake site, which made its excellent debut at last year’s World Cup. Under the agreement with FINA, the giant tower jump will not be held.
Part of the cost-effectiveness is that the auditorium of the Danube Arena will not have to be expanded to the size of five years ago, FINA is represented by far fewer guests, and the share of royalties and cash prizes for organizers has been roughly halved.
Attila Vári, president of the Hungarian Water Polo Association, said
this will be the nation’s world championship, as the sports matches will be held not only in Budapest, but also in Sopron, Debrecen, and Szeged.
“A homeworld championship is the dream of every athlete, as it is a sacred thing to play at home, in front of our fantastic fans,” said Attila Vári, who urged everyone not to use the world championship for political gain, but to support Hungarians together.
Tamás Molnár, a member of the FINA water polo committee and the vice-president of MVLSZ, emphasized that the opportunity of this World Cup is a huge victory, which “praises the work of the government and Hungarian sport over the past twelve years”.
Attila Mihók, CEO of the National Sports Agency, which co-organizes the World Championship with MÚSZ and MVLSZ, said that the opening and closing ceremonies will be held in modest conditions, but will also host the event with a total of 100,000 guest nights for Hungarian tourism. . He added that they are planning with a very restrained budget in terms of costs, but on the revenue side I want to maximize the numbers.
The athletes were represented at the press conference by the three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszú, who recalled that the most beautiful memory of her career was her success at the Danube Arena.
“This is a great opportunity not only for Hungarians but also for the world’s swimming sport. Hungary launches rescue harness for athletes for the second time ”
– said the nine-time world champion with big pools, referring to the fact that Hungary took over the 2017 world championship after Mexico’s withdrawal.
The press conference was joined online by Penelope Heyns, two-time Olympic champion South African swimmer and head of the FINA Athletes Committee, a member of the Bureau who said the organization’s view was that a venue was needed to host the World Cup in such a short time. then Hungary. He added that when Fukuoka postponed the World Cup for the first time last year, several athletes chose to retreat rather than shift their preparations, which is why there is a great need to hold the World Cup.
The World Cup, originally postponed from 2021, would have taken place in Fukuoka this year, but FINA officially confirmed last Tuesday that the event, scheduled for 13-29 May 2022, had been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak on 14 July 2023. and the Doha World Cup, scheduled for November 2023, will be postponed to January 2024.
The international association justified its current decision on the 2022 World Cup in Budapest by giving athletes the opportunity to take part in a worldwide event this summer as well. Some members of the organizing committee are already known. In addition to Ágnes Kovács, Dénes Kemény, and József Váradi, the panel will also include Olympic and world champion Dániel Gyurta, a member of the International Olympic Committee.
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